the DRM in hdmi really sucks, but its getting a bit more tolerant.

5 or 10 years ago (back when hdmi was first out) video cards were too strict and the chipsets were, too. if you didn't boot things in the right order, you'd get a race condition. would have to 'reboot the monitor' after the computer started up or you would not get hdmi.

turn off the av receiver and this might turn your tv actually off (switched ac outlet)? that might also cause hdmi to 'go away' and need your pc to be rebooted.

finally all this got worked out, mostly; but I still see remindants of strict drm. I have amazon prime and sometimes I like to fall asleep to a documentary (many of amazon's docs are boring so its a good fit, lol). I start off watching, then I put the stereo on sleep timer and turn the video display off. if amazon is playing at the time, the audio drops out for a few seconds before coming back on again (right after I turn the display off with my remote). at first, I thought there was a bug, but later realized that a few seconds after - the audio came back on. I guess they realized that it WAS a valid use case to 'watch tv' and have the video off (no hdmi link) and yet still let audio thru (spdif out on my win7 htpc).

its getting better but that audio drop out is still annoying and 100% not necessary. sigh.

anyone remember that old three stooges skit where curly dresses up like a maharaja, speaking gibberish to moe and moe 'translates'?

it would be too funny to hack one so that you would say 'Maha?" and it would respond "Aha!" and then spurt out some curly-like gibberish.

that's about all I can think of to make the 'echo' useful.

it appears that the english don't know about the underground tunne&IU9#02w9(ert78!&0wa#g780q[wfe

NO CARRIER

you fail to understand what a modern silicon valley 'contractor' is.

you don't bid on jobs. you get offered whatever the company is willing to pay. take it or leave it. you call that 'bidding' ? I don't.

here's how it works these days. you get a call from a job shop or middleman. you always must now go thru those guys, you can't 'go direct' or business to business. they want to be sure that the contract house or jobber has $1M liability and umbrella insurance and all the right papers and stuff, which you will not likely have. you will get a percent of what the jobber charges the company and you usually won't know the billing rate TO the customer.

the job shop will ask you what you made at the last job you had. if you fight with them or refuse, they walk away and go to the next suck^Hguy. you can't tell them that you'll work for market rate. they demand to know what your 'number' is and if you quote too high, they blow you off. if you quote low, you are in the running, but you just talked yourself into the below-market rate just to GET the fucking job. they all know this and they depend on this.

you really don't properly bid on jobs and you can't GET a job if you ask for market rate. it truly is a race to the bottom.

walk in my shoes before you claim to know what a modern software 'contractor' is. its not the guy who puts up wallboard or who charges a good hourly rate so he can cover the other omissions that others get when f/t. no, its the lowest rung on the ladder, only slightly higher than an h1b. oddly enough, h1b gets more respect since they are considered f/t, they DO get benefits and they DO have job security for at least a few years. they'll be worked to death but they will have a bit more security than me and perhaps even more money left over since they don't have to pay half a grand or more each month for healthcare and sick time and so on.

not in my experience! my 'contract' jobs for the last 10 or so years have ALL been below market value, every single one of them, and I'm pretty sure that my peers who were fulltime with benes had the same basic salary as me, but they DID have the benes I didn't get.

no, you are wrong; contracting stopped being a tax-advantage years ago and you cannot claim your car as an expense, your home computer as an expense (its not expensive anyway, these days) and you are really a w2 'fulltime employee' in the eyes of accountants but just without overtime, without benefits and with even less job security than the f/t guys.

I TRY to get a good enough contract rate to cover the loss of the other things; but it never works out that way. they know this and its part of the grand plan to depress wages for EVERYONE who is not in the elite or management.

its worse yet. the employer's abuse of employees includes not hiring 'full time', but only hiring you as a 'contractor'. my last gig was as a contractor; unwilling, as I refer to it, since I really wanted to have benefits.

see, in the US (for those not from here) if we call you a 'contractor' in the software field, then we can have you work 40 hours/week minimum, likely ask for more and not pay more (just guilting you into working more, the unspoken threat is to cancel your contract the very next day). but the super sweet deal they get is that they don't cover your healthcare (not one penny), they don't cover the national holidays, the religious holidays or even your actual sick days. all that costs you a day's pay for each day you take off during those times. we have a lot of US monday holidays and, as a contractor, I hated it. I got 32 hours of pay that week, other fulltime employees got their full week's pay and 1 day loss of pay is actually a lot, when you add it up. and no, as a contractor, you do NOT get paid more than the f/t guys. that stopped happening 10 or 20 years ago, at least. today, the contractor in sw is the lowest rank, the most disposable and everyone knows it.

oh, and we were told to take our laptops home with us each nite. sometimes we would have to call in to a conf call at 7am or 8am and while its nice to be able to do that from home, it still was extra hours work and even taking company property home feels wrong to me, if I'm not 'part of them' and not a full employee. in fact, if the laptop gets lost/stolen/broken, I may very well be liable for it.

contracting sucks. don't let anyone tell you its good or fun. you take it because its all that's offered, not because you want it.

we're all happy for you that your employer took you on. this time.

oh wait, that one data point is - what - ONE DATA POINT.

idiot.

yeah, this is all going to work out just fine. no one gets sick and all employers are eager to hire those who might miss a day of work here and there. and of course, they'll tell you why they are not letting you continue on that project. perhaps you'll eventually get the 'not a cultural fit anymore' once they realize you costed them money and they could get a young 'healthy' guy for much less than they pay you.

but you have a job. now. so that's all that counts, right?

I'll say it again. you're an idiot.

we (many, not just me) simply do not trust your motives.

you HAVE been called out and people know you for what you are.

deal. you made your bed, now lie in it.

as for slash taking your submissions, that speaks more against slash, I guess; but I suppose they are LOOKING for contentious click-bait and so this is why they welcome your submissions.

and so, my respect for slash is lower, still. so, you hang out here, I'll go over to the Other Site(tm) and perhaps that's a good way to work it.

slashdot is now yours. enjoy yourself. you and dice are meant for each other.

and, supposedly, the russians are returning to using type-writers instead of computers, for their secret memos and spy schtuff.

let me tell you this; the pidgeons are starting to look pretty scared, at this point...

except for when there is a lie of omission.

headline says that x and y 'almost definitely' (huh?) have the snowden docs. but it leaves out that bruce believes that x and y had the docs (and not 'the docs' but info that can be found in those docs, plus probably a shitload MORE that snowden didn't get!) aside from and apart from ed snowden. ie, this is not about snowden and how x and y have more advantage now. they always had this info, according to bruce (or speculating by bruce).

therefore, the meaning is quite different between bruce's article and what CF is saying and also leaving out.

(mod parent up, please)

I think he has a valid point. I suspected something is going on here and he may have nailed it.

add to that 'disconnect' as a firefox plugin. it also filters things that you don't want (stops outbound connects that don't need to be, just to read the content).

it may now be time to deregister from slashdot.

our 'favorite' bootlicker gets a submission. this is not a good sign; but then again, dice has been ruining slashdot for quite a while, now.

why CF is wants us to read bruce's article, though, is a mystery to me. CF is NOT a fan of snowden and yet this article defends snowden.

something seems a bit off, here.

is there a pre-fondling program we could join? you know, get it all done at once, in one, uhhhh, lump sum ?

you happen to be wrong. the better rca connectors, for example, come nickel plated NOT silver or gold. I'm talking digikey and mouser, here.

the nickel plated ones have lasted many rca plug insertions and removals. I've never in my life seen a 'gold' contact last even 10 insertions without scratching and looking like a POS.

not sure why you think nickel plating is bad. the good vendors make and sell it and I doubt the tier1 manuf's would bother with the nickel plating if you were correct.

bottom line: gold is usually for looks. almost never does anyone need gold for contacts. even if silver tarnishes, the tarnish is conductive so you don't care.